Imagination while reading?

[mrscoach]

I have been working in schools for years, but am currently going to college to get my teaching degree in English. In the past two years I worked closely with students in an English/Language Arts classroom and have noticed something by casual observation and questioning.

It seems that, often, poor readers do not 'see' what they are reading in their mind. They aren't making that connection in their brain and are too hung up on reading the words of a story. The good readers tend to picture the characters and action going on, just as if they were watching a movie.

I've always had these images in my head when I read, and when younger was often the hero or heroine or a story. Ok, so sometimes I was the bad guy too, if it was an interesting character. I find it internalizes the story more and helps me keep everything straight.

So, do you imagine the scenes from the books you read? I know people who read a lot are most likely "good" readers, because if you aren't you probably aren't going to do a lot of it, but I was wondering about this little cross section of humanity (or non-humans, if any be on here).

[LDBoblo]

Nope, I don't imagine what I'm reading visually.

[fishface]

There's no such thing as "poor readers". They're either unfamiliar with the language (it takes a lot of exposure to really internalize a language!) or have a disability in language cognition.

[DixieGal]

I can't imagine not imagining. Characters have voices, scenery has texture. Those worlds become real.

[mrscoach]

fishface, I have to disagree about there not being "poor readers". I deal with them a lot, and sometimes it is from lack of language skills, sometimes from a disability, but sometimes it has nothing to do with either. Some poor readers just do it poorly because they weren't taught properly and spend too much time on mechanics.

And some "poor" readers just never enjoyed reading, so did not work at it well enough to "get good". My husband is one of these. 99.99% of his reading is related to his job, and he does not and never has enjoyed reading. He classifies himself as a poor reader, simply because he is "slow" and doesn't enjoy it. For the record, he has a masters degree and teaches math and coaches, both quite well.

Everyone learns differently, and teachers strive to teach in enough different ways that most, if not all, students can understand. These are not disabilities the students have, just differing learning styles. Some are auditory learners, some are tactile, and some learn by reading. This doesn't make any of them disabled.

[Maggie Leung]

Depends on what I'm reading. The books I enjoy probably have a lot less descriptive info than what many others enjoy. Even with fiction, I'm more interested in how characters interact and think, and in how a story unfolds, than in imagining settings and such. I read heavily as a child and always tested above-level. I learned during a test for a high school program that I'm a self-taught speed reader.

I think if you're going to teach, you should be careful how your theories might limit your ability to teach. I've done some teaching, and I've observed that there's no one approach. With a class full of people, I try to engage as much as possible in a group, but note that some people just learn differently. With them, it's important to find alternatives, or you might lose them.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by DixieGal

I can't imagine not imagining. Characters have voices, scenery has texture. Those worlds become real.

[AlbertaCowboy]

You mean that there are readers who DON'T visualize mentally? I wouldn't be able to non-visualize a story if I actively tried.

[carld]

I definitely visualize, as DixieGal says, it all comes alive in my head.

[Adoby]

Oh, yes. I watch the action using my imagination as I read. Actually I am sometimes confused about if I have read a story or watched it in a movie. If a book doesn't get my imagination started, then I soon stop reading it.

One interesting thing is that I don't enjoy reading fiction in Swedish, my native language, as much as in English. I don't seem to get my imagination going as easily in Swedish for some reason. It seems that my mind gets underutilized and I get easily distracted. But that (usually) don't apply to non-fiction.

My learning strategy when reading non-fiction is to imagine, while I read, that I am teaching/telling someone about what I am learning, or using what I read for some practical purpose. So my imagination is very active even when I read non-fiction.

So I imagine that I learn by imagining things ...

[RDaneel54]

I normally "see" the scenes and "hear" the dialog when I'm reading. Obviously, some authors can write better than others so their descriptions allow me to be "in" the book more fully. I guess that is imagination, but driven by the book together with my mind, rather than my mind alone.

Not sure if that makes sense. Sometimes, when distracted, I'll read a page or so mechanically. To me, that is to reading what radio is to an IMAX 3D movie.

I taught adults for 12 years and have interacted with all levels of readers, from barely literate to ravenously consuming everything. While I've never thought about the "imagination" part of reading, I've seen it played out when I'm teaching. There are those who will live with you in an illustration. They are walking down the path, hearing and seeing what you describe. There are others who hear and understand, but it's like looking at a picture for them. Lastly, there are those who don't understand you are illustrating something with a story.

In teaching, you have to use any method at all to get your point across because people learn and interact differently.

Also, there are those who do not want to learn. Those are the really hard ones to teach.

Dean

[Worldwalker]

There are poor readers just as there are poor cooks, poor carpenters, poor baseball players, and poor anything else. Insisting that there aren't won't make your food magically taste good, your porch not fall down, or the Red Sox recruit you to pitch. Such is life.

Personally, I think there are a number of reasons for the problem under discussion. One is that children are taught, all too often, that written words are just transcriptions of sounds, and reading is the process of converting them back into sounds and understanding what they "hear". So there's no direct word-eye-brain connection; it's a word-eye-mouth-ear-brain connection; they move their lips when they read because they're not reading; they're listening. All their focus is on hearing the words, not on the images those words create. When they read "It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents--except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness," they're not hearing the wind gusting through the streets, the beating of the rain on the windows, and the rattling of the shutters. No, they're hearing a voice reciting "It. was. a. dark. and. stor. my. night."

I'm not sure what I'd do to teach people like that (note: IANAT). Maybe try to get their other senses engaged. Have them draw pictures of scenes from the book, or perhaps dramatize them (the less dialog the better!). Pick a story where no physical descriptions are given of the characters, and ask the students to describe them. In short, try to engage senses other than their ears.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

My imagination is definitely is at work when I read. I see far more than words when I read; the better the author describes the scene, the more vivid it becomes for me (although my imagination is quite good at filling in any holes). One of my favorite books is Wind in the Willows (I reread it every two or three years). While the plot is simple overall (it is a children's story), the descriptive language paints a vivid image that both places me in the scene and also sets the mood for me.

[Pookeysgirl]

Originally Posted by DixieGal

I can't imagine not imagining. Characters have voices, scenery has texture. Those worlds become real.

Well said, I agree

[saoir]

Originally Posted by fishface

There's no such thing as "poor readers". They're either unfamiliar with the language (it takes a lot of exposure to really internalize a language!) or have a disability in language cognition.

I agree 100%